It is therefore evident that formerly the Chakmas were followers of Mahayana Buddhism and from the time of Kalindi Rani, Hinayana Buddhism was introduced among the Chakmas. Thun Shew Khine a Burmese historian is of the opinion that the Chakmas were converted to Hinyana Buddhism by the Missionaries, who came from India after crossing the Arakan Hill Tracts4.

About the acceptance of Hinayana Buddhism their tradition says that there was a war between the Chakmas and the Arakenese, in which the former were defeated. The Chakmas came under Arakenese domination and came into direct influence of the Hinayana Buddhism. There were, of course occasional attempts of the Chakmas to re-assert independence from the Arakeneses but ended up in vain. Tales of their pathetic condition under the Arakenese are still recounted5. One such saying run thus:

Ghorot thele Maghe phai,
Zarot thele baghe hai.
(when we are in our house, we are caught by the Maghs (arakenese),
when we take shelter in the jungle, the tigers devoured us).

It only means that they were frequently attacked by Maghs whose religion the Chakmas accepted consequently. One tradition says that they are an offshoot of the Mughal soldiers with Magh women and it is from their mothers that they adopted Buddhism. Hutchinson thinks that the first known Chakma chief made terms with the Arakenese king and settled in the neighbourhood of the Naaf river to the south of the Chittagong District, where his people intermarried with the Arakenese and were gradually converted to Buddhism6. Lewin, however says that originally they were Hindus of good caste, when they settled in the Chittagong Hills they took wives from local people, who were Budhist7 and this resulted in their conversion to Buddhism. It is thus evident that the Chakmas received Hinayana Buddhism from the Arakenese.

Even today, the Chakmas look the Arakenese BuddhistMonks for HigherReligious practices. Before their coming to Mizoram, the Chakmas shared the Arakenese Mahamuni Mela and they themselves also held this Mela imitating the Arakenese. Till 1978, nearly all the Buddhisttemples in Chakma villages in Mizoram had Arakenese monks who did not know the Chakma language, culture and traditions.

The Chakmas have no caste distinction, restriction in food and behaviors and do not detest others. Thus, Buddhism has been working as an instrument for social solidarity and inculcates a sense of communal harmony among the Chakmas.

Of these books, only the first one is written in their own {{Wiki|dialect]], while the rest are written in Pali. However, Pali is not understood by ordinary Chakmas.

The Agar Tara written in their {{Wiki|dialect]] is a book, which contains many prayers to be chanted on various occasions such as on the death of a person, at the time of doing religious work at the marriage of a person, etc. One of their famous religiousbook is Gazener Lama (A psalm of Almighty) which is written in their {{Wiki|dialect]] has passages like this:

Chaney surjiyey sodar bhey
Salaam dyang uddhysiyey chumit they.
Sarmukkhey salaam dyang pugedy
Pachimey salaam dyang bayedy
Uttarey salaam syang bayedy
Dakshiney salaam dyang denedy,
Salaam manei tapashiDharmasila tapashi.
(The sun and the moon are two brothers, Them I salute from the earth.
In front I salute the east, and on the back, the west.
I salute north, on the left, And on the right, the south.
Salutation is devotion to almighty And it is that makes a man hermit).

The monks recite the appropriate invocation in Palilanguage. The author experienced a burial service and found that the Chakmas themselves are afraid the spirit which may cause a sudden unnatural death to their family members. The monk, then, receives offerings and he pours water upon the ground to indicate that the deceased and all creatures are to share the merit of the gifts to the monks, the body is buried and the butterfly soul is told to be off.

They also believe in two places of the spiritworld, one is a place of destruction and the other a place of peaceful rest. To know where the spirit of the dead approach they have two methods, the release of burning paper box and the flying of a long white cloth over the cremation. When the flying cloth is blown by the wind towards the south, where there is a place of eternal agony, the mourners wept bitterly. The body is marked with a charcoal believing that the dead when reborn in their family or of near relatives will have this mark. When a child is born within the family or among the relatives they look for mark in the new born baby to know who he or she is reborn.